It's a Boy... and more Boys... and Girls!

The
Marmot Recovery Foundation is proud to announce the first pair of pups
born at the Tony Barrett Mount Washington Marmot Recovery Centre on
Mount Washington to parents Brutus and Winnie.

The pups join six
other litters born this year at their partner facilities at the Calgary
zoo, Toronto zoo and Mountain View Farms in Langley. It's still too
early to know exactly how many pups were born, some of them are still
hiding in their nest boxes, but they hope to top 17.

These 17 pups represent
a 27% increase in the captive population increasing the total number
of Vancouver Island marmots to just over 100 animals. An amazing success,
but at still so few animals the Vancouver Island Marmot remains Canada's
most endangered mammal and one of the rarest in North America. If you
look carefully at the alpine bowls at the top of the mountain you may
see one eating grasses and wild flowers or sunning on a rock.

The colony at Mount
Washington is the last of the northern colonies and the largest surviving
natural colony in the wild representing almost half of the total wild
population who now number less than 30 animals.